Long-term outcome of hand-assisted laparoscopic radical nephrectomy for T1 renal cell carcinoma

To investigate the long-term outcomes of hand-assisted laparoscopic radical nephrectomy compared with those of open nephrectomy.

Hand-assisted laparoscopic radical nephrectomy was carried out in 132 patients with T1 renal cell carcinoma (between November 1999 and November 2008). Their outcomes were compared with those of 61 patients treated with open nephrectomy. The durations of follow up were 6-121 months (median 65 months) and 7-146 months (median 84 months) in the hand-assisted laparoscopic radical nephrectomy and open nephrectomy groups, respectively.

The 7-year recurrence-free rates were 88.5 and 85.6% in the hand-assisted laparoscopic radical nephrectomy and open nephrectomy groups, respectively, showing no significant difference between the two groups. The 7-year cancer-specific survival rates were 92.3 and 91.4% in the hand-assisted laparoscopic radical nephrectomy and open nephrectomy groups, respectively, showing no significant difference between the two groups. Also, the 10-year recurrence-free rates were 85.4 and 78.1% in the hand-assisted laparoscopic radical nephrectomy and open nephrectomy groups, respectively. When changes in the recurrence-free rate were analyzed using the Kaplan-Meier method, no significant difference was observed between the two groups. The 10-year cancer-specific survival rates were 91.8 and 87.9% for hand-assisted laparoscopic radical nephrectomy and open nephrectomy, respectively, showing no significant difference between the groups.

Hand-assisted laparoscopic radical nephrectomy might be comparable with open nephrectomy with regard to long-term cancer control.